THE TRISTAN de LUNA EXPEDITIONby Steve Pinson of The Pensacola Archeology Lab

Probable map from the Soto expedition.
This map may have been available to Luna (from Swanton, 1985, Final
Report of the United States DeSoto Expedition Commission,
p.343)

The Council of the Indies
advised Philip II to confide the conquest and settlement of Florida to Don
Luis de Velasco, viceroy of New Spain, who was anxious to undertake the
task. The Catholic monarch had previously rejected the projects of Zurita
and Samano; but the high character of Velasco induced him to confide the
task to the viceroy of Mexico. The step was a gain for the humanitarian
party, and the King, on giving his approval, directed that Dominican
friars should be selected to accompany the colonists, in order to minister
to them and convert the Indians.

Don Luis de Velasco had directed the
government in Mexico since November 1550, with remarkable prudence and ability.
The natives found in him such an earnest, capable, and unwavering protector that
he is styled in history the Father of the Indians. The plans adopted by this
excellent governor for the occupation of Florida were in full harmony with the
Dominican views. In the treatment of the Indians he anticipated the just and
equitable methods which gave Calvert, Williams, and Penn so enviable a place in
American annals.

The occupation
was not to be one of conquest, and all intercourse with the Indians was to
be on the basis of natural equity. His first step was prompted by his
characteristic prudence. In September 1558, he dispatched Guido de las
Bazares, with three vessels and a sufficient force, to explore the whole
Florida coast, and select the best port he found for the projected
settlement. Las Bazares, on his return after an investigation of several
months, reported in favor of a bay, which he named Filipina*.

Caravels exploring the Florida
coast.

He describes its entrance between a
long island and a point of land. The country was well wooded, game and fish
abounded, and corn, beans, and pumpkins were found in the native villages. On
the return of las Bazares in December, preparations were made for the
expedition, which was placed under the command of Don Tristan de Luna y
Arellano.

The force consisted of fifteen
hundred soldiers and settlers, under six captains of cavalry and six of
infantry, some of who had been at Coca, and were consequently well acquainted
with the country where it was intended to form the settlement. The Dominicans
selected were Fathers Pedro de Feria, as vicar-provincial of Florida, Dominic of
the Annunciation, Dominic de Salazar, John Macuelas, Dominic of Saint Dominic,
and a lay brother. The object being to settle, provisions for a whole year were
prepared, and ammunition to meet all their wants.

Luna lands at
Santa Maria de Ochuse--1559.(from Dixie Cards).

The colonists, thus
well fitted for their undertaking, sailed from Vera Cruz on June 11th,
1559; and by the first of the following month were off the bay in Florida
to which Miruelo had given his name. Although Labazares had recommended
Filipina Bay, Tristan de Luna seems to have been induced by his pilots to
give the preference to the Bay of Ochuse; and he sailed west in search of
it, but passed it, and entered Filipina Bay. Finding that he had gone too
far, Luna sailed back ten leagues east to
Ochuse.

Here he anchored his
fleet, and dispatched the factor Luis Daza, with a galleon, to Vera Cruz
to announce his safe arrival. He fitted two other vessels to proceed to
Spain, awaiting the return of two exploring parties. He then prepared to
land his colonists and stores. Meanwhile he sent a detachment of one
hundred men under captains Alvaro Nyeto and Gonzalo Sanchez, accompanied
by one of the missionaries, to explore the country and ascertain the
disposition of the Indians. The exploring parties returned after three
weeks, having found only one hamlet, in the midst of an uninhabited
country. Before Luna had unloaded his vessels, they were struck, during
the night of September 19thby a terrible hurricane, which lasted twenty-four hours,
destroying five ships, a galleon and a bark, and carrying one caravel and
its cargo into a grove some distance on land.

Luna had two galleons. The San Juan
was in Cuba when the hurricane struck, and the Andonquin was sunk.(from
Winsor).

Many of the people perished, and most of the stores
intended for the maintenance of the colony were ruined or lost.

The river, entering the Bay of
Ochuse*, proved to be very difficult to navigate, and it watered a sparsely
peopled country. Another detachment marched forty days apparently toward the
northwest throughunoccupied country until they reached a large river and followed its
banks to Nanipacana*, a deserted town of eighty houses. Explorations in various
directions found no other signs of Indian occupation. The natives at last
returned and became friendly.

Tristan de Luna soon found his
original site unfavorable after exhausting the relief-supplies sent him. He was
himself prostrated by a fever in which he became delirious. This left Juan de
Jaramillo at the port with fifty men and negro slaves, who proceeded with the
rest of his company, nearly a thousand people,
to Nanipacana*. Some traveled by land, and some
ascended the river in their lighter craft. To this town he gave the name of
Santa Cruz. The Spaniards soon consumed the stores of Indian corn, beans, and
other vegetables left by the Indians and soon were forced to live on acorns or
any herbs they could gather.

The Viceroy, on hearing of their sufferings,
sent two vessels to their relief in November, promising more ample aid in the
spring. The provisions they obtained saved them from starvation during the
winter, but in the spring their condition became as desperate as ever. No
attempt seems to have been made to cultivate the Indian fields, or to raise
anything for their own support.

In hope of obtaining provisions from Coca,
Luna sent his sergeant major with six captains and two hundred soldiers,
accompanied by Father Dominic de Salazar and Dominic of the Annunciation, to
that province. On the march the men were forced to eat straps, harnesses, and
the leather coverings of their shields. Some of them died of starvation, while
herbs that they ate poisoned others. A chestnut wood proved a godsend, and a
fifty days march brought them to Olibahali, where the friendly natives
ministered to their wants.

About the beginning of July they reached Coca,
then a town of thirty houses located on a river, near which were seven other
towns of the same chiefdom. Entering into friendly intercourse with these
Indians, the Spaniards obtained food for themselves and their jaded horses.
After resting here for three months, the Spaniards, to gain the good will of the
Cosas, agreed to aid them in a campaign against the Napochies. The Cosas and
their Spanish allies defeated this tribe, and compelled them to pay tribute, as
of old, to the Cosas. But his messengers found no Spaniard at Nanipacana*, save
one hanging from a tree. Tristan de Luna, supposing his men lost, had gone down
to Ochuse Bay* by way of Filipina Bay. He left directions on a tree guiding his
men to a buried clay pot beneath the tree that contained a letter with detailed
instructions. Father Feria and some others had sailed for Havana, and all were
eager to leave the country. Tristan de Luna was reluctant to abandon the
projected settlement, and wished to proceed to Coca with all the survivors of
his force. His sickness had left him so capricious and severe that he seemed
actually insane. The supplies promised in the spring had not arrived in
September, though four ships left Vera Cruz toward the end of June. Parties sent
out by land and water found the fields on the Rio Piache* and Rio Tome forsaken
by the Indians, who had lain waste their towns and removed their provisions. In
this desperate state George Ceron, the maestro de compo, opposed the
Governor's plan, and a large part of the force rallied around him. When Tristan
de Luna issued a proclamation ordering the march, there was an open mutiny, and
the Governor condemned the whole of the insurgents to death. Of course he could
not attempt to execute so many, but he did hang one who deserted. The mutineers
secretly sent word to Coca, and in November the party from that province with
the two missionaries arrived at the Bay of Ochuse*. A detachment left at
Filipina Bay was also recalled to Ochuse uniting the whole force. The
dissentions continued till the missionaries, amid the solemnities of Holy Week,
by appealing to the religious feelings of the commander and Ceron, effected
reconciliation.

At this juncture Angel de Villafafane's fleet
entered the harbor of Ochuse*. He announced to the people that he was on his way
to Santa Elena, which Tristan de Luna had made an ineffectual effort to reach.
All who chose were at liberty to accompany him.

The Tatton-Wright Map of the New
World, 1600, showing the Spanish settlements along the coast of La
Florida.

The desire to
evacuate the country where they had suffered so severely was universal.
None expressed a wish to remain, and Tristan de Luna, seeing himself
utterly abandoned, embarked for Havana with a few servants. Villafafane
then took on board all except a detachment of fifty or sixty men who were
left at Ochuse* under Captain Biedma, with orders to remain five or six
months; at the expiration of which time they were to sail away also, in
case no instructions came. Villafafane, with the " San Juan "
and three other vessels and about two hundred men, put into Havana, but
there many of the men deserted, and several officers refused to
proceed.